Jury Hears Tape Recording Of Murder Suspect`s Denial

The taped voice of Michael Scott Keen was as steady as the calm ocean he described to a detective on December 1981, less than a month after his bride mysteriously disappeared at sea.

The statement was played Wednesday in Broward Circuit Court, where Keen is on trial on a charge that he murdered his pregnant wife, Anita, by letting her drown in the Atlantic Ocean.

In the statement, Keen said he and a friend, Kenneth Shapiro, had been absorbed in conversation and ``blaring`` radio music on a Nov. 15, 1981, cruise while Anita went below deck to take a nap.

Keen told the detective they didn`t realize Anita had fallen overboard until they had docked his 21-foot cabin cruiser at home and discovered her missing.

Almost four years later, confronted with a more incriminating account by Shapiro, Keen changed his story.

Following his Aug. 23, 1984, arrest, Keen told Broward Sheriff`s Detective Phil Amabile, ``I did not physically kill Anita`` and ``did not see any strategic reason to confess,`` Amabile testified.

After initially sticking to his 1981 version of events, Keen eventually admitted he and Shapiro ``did discuss murdering Anita for the insurance money, but planning and fantasizing and actually doing it were two different things,`` the detective quoted Keen as saying.

Keen said he and Anita had been hugging and looking out over the water when he felt Shapiro shove or push them into the ocean.

``You`ve got to believe me. I never wanted her to die. I wanted that baby. I tried to save her, but she hit her head on the dive platform of the boat,`` Keen said.

As Shapiro ``sped away`` in the boat and circled them, Keen told detectives, he managed to swim back and hoist himself on board, where he found Shapiro at the controls ``frozen like a zombie.``

Last year, however, Keen`s brother, Patrick, implicated Keen and Shapiro in talks with insurance investigators. An investigation into the death was then renewed.

Shapiro has testified that Keen pushed Anita overboard on a Sunday pleasure cruise and watched the flailing woman until night fell. The plan, which the friends had discussed for more than a year before Keen`s marriage, was ``to find an unsuspecting girl and kill her for profit,`` he said.

The insurance proceeds would then enable Keen to invest toward his dream of retirement at age 40, Shapiro said.